Mules Hone Their Batting To Face Ace Campbell Pitcher
By Jack Danilewicz
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For the Leilehua softball team, the forecast for Saturday’s 10 a.m. doubleheader against Campbell at Kaala Elementary School is for another pair of close encounters.
With four of their first seven OIA Red West games decided by one run, the Mules know better than any team how slim the margin for error is within the league.
“We’ve been struggling lately with errors at crucial times,” coach Stacy Araki said. “We were pretty good in the preseason with our hitting, and we were making the plays. In the regular season, I don’t know if it’s because it’s for real now, but we’ve struggled. Lately, we’ve been focusing more on our defense.Every day we talk to them about it, and they’ve been working really hard.”
The good news is that self-inflicted wounds are correctable as the Mules proved last week in their 6-1 win over Pearl City, a game that saw them commit just one error. Leilehua took a 2-5 record into the weekend. The Mules are 1-3 in games decided by one run or less, enduring heart-breakers to Waianae 6-5 and 1-0, respectively, plus a 3-2 loss to two-time defending OIA champion Mililani to go with a season-opening 4-3 win over Kapolei.
Campbell also has its share of heartbreak lately. After an impressive 4-0 start in the Red West, it lost back-to-back games to Kapolei (3-1) and Mililani (4-3) only three days apart.
With her team likely to face Campbell ace Katie Manuma in one or both meetings Saturday, the Sabers are focusing in on offense at practice. “We just need to hit,” she said. “We’ve been getting one hit here and a hit there. We need to string more together.”
At the plate, Leilehua got a boost from freshman outfielder Krysten Kubo. While they try to steer first-year players to the JV, Kubo’s impact has been unmistakable. Her .425 average is tops on the team among players with a significant amount of at-bats.
“She strong - she’s bigger than some of our sophomores - and she’s been contributing a lot and hitting consistently. She has a good arm in the field, and she knows where to throw the ball. But right now, it’s her batting that I like.
“Because we have only three seniors, we’re looking to our younger girls to contribute. Almost every game, one of them has stepped up. Yesterday, it was Leanora (Villafania), who went 2-for-3.”
In Alex Smith, Kaylen Ynigues and Ciara Paracuelles, the Mules have three of the better veteran players in the Red West. Smith is having a stellar senior season after an off-season injury that kept her from pitching as a junior. She spent last season exclusively in center field, where she still managed to earn First Team All-Conference honors. This season, she’s back in pitching rotation with workhorse Ynigues.
“Alex is a really hard worker,” Araki said.“She plays year-round, and not too many of our girls do. We worked last year at getting her arm back, and she did a really good job of working on her hitting.”
Ynigues, a junior, is lead-off hitter and splits time on the mound with Smith. She was the main pitcher last season, receiving the bulk of the work.
“She was really consistent last year,” Araki said. “She’s deceiving. She’s a small girl, but her ball moves around, and that really helps.”
Paracuelles is one of the most versatile players on the team and has settled in at catcher. “She’s a good all-around player that we could put anywhere,“Araki said of Paracuelles, who hits second or third in the batting order. “At the plate, she’s not powerful, but she’s always getting on base.”
In addition to Manuma, Campbell also boasts senior out-fielder Brittany Garcia (team-best plus .600 average), right-fielder Randy Schoening, third basemen/catcher Gerika Pantohan and freshman pitcher Sharae Esprecion, who has settled in at No. 2 behind Manuma within the pitching staff.
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